Dickinson Trinity hoisted nine shots from beyond the arc Thursday night in the semifinals of the Roughrider tournament. The Titans missed every one of them.
But for head coach Gregg Grinsteinner, that type of off shooting night is forgivable when you consider the prettier parts of the stat sheet.
The Titans shot 28 of 44 on all shots not from the 3-point line, and outrebounded Bowman County by a 37-16 margin on their way to a old-fashioned, grind-it-out 62-40 win.
The semifinal win punched their ticket to the tournament's final for the sixth year in a row, which is to be held Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus Activities Center. The Titans will face Mott-Regent, which defeated Heart River shortly after.
"In the second half, we were 15 of 19 on two-point shots, we were taking the ball to the rim," Grinsteinner said. "Some of them found out they could score from places other than the 3-point line, and that's got to continue to happen."
ADVERTISEMENT
The discrepancy in rebounding was pioneered by Trinity's Shawn Stoltz, who netted 22 points on 10 of 18 shooting and grabbed 14 of their 37 rebounds. He also added three assists and three blocks.
He was paramount in turning a close one into a blowout against the feisty Bulldogs, who until midway through the third period were making a game of it.
Bowman County's Dylan Scott was a major factor in the first half, and finished with a team-high 18. His play, in part, had the Bulldogs within two points up until the five-minute mark of the third quarter, when the Titans finally pulled away with a definitive 15-3 run that spanned the course of the rest of the quarter.
"We talked about it after the game, and I think most of the problem was we just ran out of gas," Bowman County head coach Erick Egan said. "They go about five deep off the bench. Right now we're maybe two guys into our bench. A lot of it came down to depth, and they're a heck of a team, too."
Only the Bulldogs' starters played significant minutes, while eight for the Titans played at least double-digit minutes. The depth was perhaps most notable on the defensive end, where, led by point guard Lucas Jones, the Titans kept up a relentless and energetic man-to-man attack.
Jones finished just 3 of 14 from the field, but collected two steals, a lot of deflected passes and four assists. Noah Sickler and Alex Scherr, who played 14 minutes off the bench, both had 10 and finished a combined 9 of 9 from the floor.
But the game's best player was Stoltz, whose height and energy proved a hard draw for Bowman County.
"It all started with the defensive intensity. We came out really relaxed and not very focused. In the second half, coach got on us a little bit and we came out and played a lot better," Stoltz said. "We know every night we're not going to shoot it well, but every night we can go to the glass and be aggressive. We've got to learn how to win without the shooting, but give Bowman credit, they were up in our grill for most of the night."
ADVERTISEMENT
Dickinson Trinity 62, Bowman County 40
BC 9 13 12 6
THS 16 13 17 16
V: Dylan Scott 18, Jacob Boehm 6, Andrew Miller 6, Brian Anaya 4, Chance Andrews 3, Corban Massey 3.
H: Shawn Stoltz 22, Noah Sickler 10, Alec Scherr 10, Easton Walby 9, Lucas Jones 7, Kendall Jones 2, Keagan Jacobson 2.
3-pointers: BC 3-11 (Scott 2-3, Chance Andrews 1-3, Miller 0-4, Massey 0-1), THS 0-9 (Stoltz 0-3, L. Jones 0-3, K. Jones 0-1, Walby 0-1). Free throws: BC 3-4, THS 6-8. Total fouls: BC 11, THS 12. Rebounds: BC 15 (Boehm 5), THS 37 (Stoltz 14). Assists: BC 5 (Massey, Miller 2), THS 15 (L. Jones 4). Steals: BC 9, THS 12 (Soltz, L. Jones 2). Blocks: BC 1 (Scott 1), THS 4 (Stoltz 3). Turnovers: BC 12, THS 11.
